diff --git a/Interop/Runtime/src/jvm/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/JvmNativeMem.kt b/Interop/Runtime/src/jvm/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/JvmNativeMem.kt
index 41ddc6e58e1..a1e4818a35e 100644
--- a/Interop/Runtime/src/jvm/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/JvmNativeMem.kt
+++ b/Interop/Runtime/src/jvm/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/JvmNativeMem.kt
@@ -51,7 +51,10 @@ object nativeMemUtils {
     internal class NativeAllocated(override val rawPtr: NativePtr) : NativePointed
 
     fun alloc(size: Long, align: Int): NativePointed {
-        val address = unsafe.allocateMemory(size)
+        val address = unsafe.allocateMemory(
+                if (size == 0L) 1L else size // It is a hack: `sun.misc.Unsafe` can't allocate zero bytes
+        )
+
         if (address % align != 0L) TODO(align.toString())
         return interpretPointed<NativeAllocated>(address)
     }